A true hero was laid to rest yesterday

[afilter]

No not MJ...what a pathetic mockery our media has made out of a celebrities death.

Instead of watching the train wreck of MJ's funeral unfold in the national media yesterday I attended the funeral of a True Hero. On June 24, 2009 a 19 yrd old soldier from WI was wounded in action in Kunar province Afghanistan. That soldier later died from his wounds in Germany only hours after his mother was able to get there.

This young soldier is special to me because I helped him fulfill his dream of becoming a soldier just last year. Already he is gone. Unlike a celebrity he did not have a full life time to compile a list of accomplishments. With that said I would put his accomplishments up against any pop icon today.

I was truly moved to see a High school Gymnasium in a small Northern WI town filled to capacity. The testimony of his basketball coach who learned more from this young person than he could ever teach him. The account of how he put himself in harms way defending his comrades while taking fire. The wisdom he had shown just weeks before when tlking to family before he deployed. He paid the ultimate price for what he believed in.

This young man had touched more people and was richer for doing so than most icons our media worships today.

So while our congress observed a monent of silence for a celebrity with questionable character and ethics I would ask you all to take a moment no matter what your political beliefs to remember this young soldier. He was a man of unquestionable quality along with his family who is suffering along with the thousands like him and their families who everyday make a sacrafice for what they believe in so that we can enjoy our freedoms.

Thank you,

Aaron

[SmokeRings]

G-d rest his soul and my condolences to his family.
it is so unfortunate that the media focus solely on "famous" people's deaths and what have you, when the reality is there are soldiers being killed for the many freedoms we take for granted.
He sounds like a quality guy. RIP

[madurolover]

R.I.P. to a true American Hero!

[Cypress]

Amen. My heart cries out for all the fallen soldiers.

[itsme_timd]

Thanks for sharing this, sure would be nice if these services were the ones that made the national news.

[tx_tuff]

Amen, R I P

[c2000]

Aaron, thanks for posting this.. No media attention for the little guys in this country that give all they can give. Hell, half of the public doesn't even know there is a war on two fronts going on, but they know all about M J...

Jerry in Minnesota.

[mrreindeer]

Thank you very much for this great post Aaron. Please accept my deepest condolences. What was his name? I shall say a prayer for him & his family.

[edogg]

RIP. Amen

[afilter]

Thanks all, His name is PFC Steven Drees.

Here is a link to a local story:
Tiny Peshtigo hosts huge crowd for funeral of soldier Steven Drees | Postcrescent.com | Appleton Post-Crescent

[bdw1984]

thank u for posting this aaron... i didnt open this thread for hours b/c i figured itd be about michael... its men and women like this who protect our liberties that deserve to be honored... my condolences to his family, friends and fellow troops

[Strick]

Amen and Thanks for the post..

[cp478]

thank you for hitting the nail on the head and pointing out the true heroes!

my deepest condolences to this brave soldiers family!

[Cigary]

Good to know that we are aware of what is really important and that homage is paid to the real heroes in life. Watching only a partial viewing of TV coverage on MJ's funeral made me think of who paid the real price in life and the media devotes weeks to somebodys life who made records and danced,,,tell me priorities aren't screwed up?

[FN in MT]

My condolensces and Thank You for posting. Freedom is not free. Such losses are so sad, yet necessary.

We lost another Hero recently from WW2. Shifty Powers from the rifle company depicted in "Band of Brothers". He passed away about two weeks ago.

FN in MT